Christmas Day 

She woke up alone, and what was worse than waking up alone? 

Saying goodbye? Being late? She didn’t know anymore. Not when all she really wanted was to wake up next to the one she loved every morning, every night, every in between. If she was waking up next to him, then everything else seemed less significant. 

Seoyun’s legs felt restless without his warmth to succumb them to sleep. Her fingers too, they searched for him underneath the cooled silk of their sheets. And yet, they came back empty-handed. 

Her eyes found their way open, peeling back against once heavy sleep to peer through what she has come to understand as an empty room. 

The worst part— it wasn’t even morning. 

Maybe he was peeing. Very possible. 

The light wasn’t on though, and he never walks around in the dark, he’s too clumsy. 

Water, maybe? The full bottle by his nightstand seemed to shrug at her. 

She was getting up the next moment. She wasn’t sure why either, but something ached at the thought of being alone on Christmas Eve; some small part of her that looked an awful lot like the child who spent too many sleepless nights wrapped up in only her own tiresome company. 

She padded through their cracked door and found herself tracing the memorized path down the corridor. A soft glow met her on the other side, an illumination of warmth that outlined exactly what she was seeking. 

“Chan?” 

She was whispering into a still house, not even the creak of the wood floor beneath her displacing the heavy air. Not until he turned— that was when the shadows seemed a little less daunting. A hum of his soothing voice reached towards her and the space around her vibrated to life. 

He was sitting back in his favorite spot on the couch, stretched as if moments away from falling asleep, yet eyes so clear she knew there was no way. Hair rumbled like a mop on his head, tired lines worn thin between his eyes, a red palm as if it were carrying the weight of restless thoughts— she wondered then, what exactly was on his mind?

“Seoyun…” His voice crackled like spoked firewood. 

She felt her feet begin to tug her in his direction, wanting to be as intimate as possible. Chanyeol reached out when she was close enough, and clasped their hands together, pulling her lightly down to sit in his lap. She sighed, resting her head against his comforting chest like there was nowhere else it belonged.

“You’re still awake? You should be sleeping.” 

His hands came to wrap in her hair, his chest playing a calm rhythm against hers. 

“You weren’t there.” Was all she could think to say. 

Chanyeol paused his light caressing, making her crack her eyes open to take a long look up at him. It was as if he was shocked by her words, though she couldn’t be for sure. And then, as if he had made his mind up about something, he smiled softly and pulled her even closer to him. 

“I tried not to wake you,” he breathed out, “but I suppose that didn’t work out too well.” She shook her head, giving him a small pout that he chuckled lightly at. “I’m sorry, I just needed a moment to rethink some things, so I came down here.” 

She wished, suddenly, that she could be the person that could smile, say it’s okay, and move on. Because if she were, then she wouldn’t be sitting here, tensing up from the worry of wondering what he meant by rethinking. A tight feeling of unease was settling over her chest like a cloud of acid rain and all she could think was, surely not because of what happened last night, not me, right? 

Courage found her somewhere in all of that, her voice barely above a whisper when she asked, “Rethinking what?” 

He took in her stressed appearance with a slight tilt to his head, a curious gleam filling his eyes before blooming to tenderness.  

"Oh, no baby." He instantly mumbled, a look of tenderness in his eyes that seemed to show how easily he could read her. "I wasn't re-thinking you, never you." He reassured, leaning down to place a delicate kiss on the crown of her head, the touch leaving a lingering feeling of warmth that was more spiritual than physical. 

Seoyun felt her lungs deflate in relief and once again, she felt a tad bit silly for overreacting about things she already knew the answer to. He loved her and she knew that— she could feel it in every touch, every word, every gesture. She hoped that he could feel the same from her. 

"Do you want to talk about it, maybe I could help you." She found herself saying, blinking her eyes awake in order to will herself to focus. If Chanyeol could help her with all of her problems, then she could return the favor.

Chanyeol, though, let out a light humm in response that sounded closer to content-ness than distress, as if he were still caught in the idea of something great. 

"Let's just go back to bed, I think you already helped me make up my mind."

Seoyun didn't protest, already dreaming about how nice the bed would feel with both of them in it. She stretched closer to him instead, wrapping her arms and legs around his body. He let a rumble of laughter run down his torso at her actions that had her chest feeling light. 

"Clingy much?" He teased, standing up with her tightly wrapped in his embrace. His footsteps were lulling her to sleep as he climbed up the steps and into the room, setting her gently on the bed so he could pull his shirt up and over his shoulders, the mess falling onto the floor with a silent thump. She watched though dazed lids as he crawled under the covers, landing with a huff next to her. He closed his eyes immediately, snuggling his content face into the side of her soft pillow.

A yawn escaped his large mouth, drawing attention to the soft dimple on his cheek. Seoyun couldn't help herself when she leaned down and dropped a lingering kiss there before resting beside him.

Before she could settle, his arms were trailing around her small frame and capturing their bodies closely together. He stuffed his face into his spot on her neck, soft lips brushing the skin there delicately. And as she finally let her eyes fall shut, a hand threaded down her waist and interlocked with hers. A feeling of warmth spread through her chest as she let herself let go, his steady heartbeat bringing her back to a peaceful sleep.

They stayed like that, hand in hand, until morning came.

A delicious smell was meandering through the air and tickling Seoyun's senses awake as they lingered dangerously close to her nose. She could feel herself being pulled from her precious sleep at its enticement, her eyes threatening to crack open all by themselves to take a peek at what could possibly be the source of something so sweet and so, so savory. 

A small noise that sounded similar to a door creaking helped her to stir fully awake, her numb hand coming up to brush the tired away from her eyes.

The first thing she noticed was that the cream drapery had been pulled back from the window, giving view to a beautiful baby blue sky dappled with snowflakes that seemed like little presents from above. The sight alone was enough to make her day, but then something in the corner of her eye caught her attention, making her willingly drag her gaze on the source of their distraction.

Unbeknownst to her, a delicate smile began to trace onto her lips as she watched Chanyeol set a tray filled with an assortment of mouthwatering foods down onto the bedside table. He though, believe-it-or-not, was what she was more interested in. He seemed content, a permanent look of tenderness and dare she think it, amazement, written on his face as his eyes met hers for the first time this morning.

"Merry Christmas." He half-whispered, his eyes boring holes into her like he was incapable of looking away, or maybe was just unwilling to look away. Seoyun's breath caught in at the sound of his deep morning voice. His silvery hair was disheveled like always and there was a splatter of what looked to be strawberry jam on the corner of his lips. He was wrapped in flannel pajamas and her apron that was two sizes too small on him, but that didn't matter. If anything, it made her only want him more.

"Merry Christmas." She finally managed to spit out, fully propping up and giving Chanyeol room to sit down next to her on the bed. "Did you make me all of this?" She asked, gesturing to the plates of steaming goods that was currently testing her self-restraint.

Chanyeol tilted his head as he gazed at her, a twinkling look in his eyes. He shook his head in a manner of yes distractedly. "Who else?" He blinked. "My girlfriend deserves everything on any plain day, so it only makes sense to be even more extra on Christmas Day and start it off with your favorites in bed, does it not?" He questioned lightly, his tone playful.

"Come here," she reached out for him, not trusting herself to speak anything with the way her heart was beating from his soft words. A deep chuckle escaped his chest as he let her tug him towards her lazily. She felt that her lips could be compared to a heavy magnet, Chanyeol's being the willing paper clip that always manages to get itself stuck.

Chanyeol leaned forward to close the distance, but landed a soft kiss on the apple of her cheek instead, plainly meaning to . "Of course, you can only have it if my baby does something for me in return."

Seoyun pulled back with a slight huff, her eyebrows scrunching up in a mock look of annoyance. "Oh yeah?" She tested. Chanyeol gave her a singular nod back, saying that he was not budging today. "Fine," she relented, the smell of bacon invading her nose once again and making her weak. "What is it you want, and I'll decide on whether-or-not I'll give it to you."

Chanyeol placed a hand on his chin and turned his gaze towards the ceiling as if to demonstrate his process of thinking, even though she was pretty sure he already had in mind his request. Then he turned to her with a confident look that had her hand ready to smack his chest if he requested something stupid.

"Firstly, you have to give me a kiss any time I want.” He laid out firmly, his face almost comically serious. Her heart leaped at his statement and she couldn't help herself when a small giggle escaped , making Chanyeol's eyes dance as he watched her. Seoyun had already planned to do this with him so she easily nodded, gesturing for him to continue with her hand.

"Secondly, you have to watch old cartoon re-runs with me after we unwrap presents because you know how much I love those." Seoyun found herself agreeing again. 

“Easy enough. And the last one?” She asked, her eyes falling to the scrambled eggs she imagined was getting cold. 

"Who's to say there is only one more thing?" Chanyeol teased, dropping another kiss on her cheek. Seoyun shot him the look, making him let out a light relenting chuckle.

"The last thing is that you have to promise to go along with anything I say today, even if it seems weird in the moment. Can you do that for me?" His voice was suddenly very soft and hesitant, almost like this was of actual importance, unlike the other two simple requests.

She had originally thought about messing with him until he just relented into letting her have the breakfast, because come on they both know he would drop the requests if she batted her eyelashes enough, but something in the way he was asking made her hesitate.

"Yeah…” She heard herself agree against his persuading eyes. "I think that’s doable."

A brilliant smile overtook his face before he leaned down and finally brushed a lasting kiss on her petal-like mouth. Seoyun decided that more than anything, she loved the sweet taste of his lips, like strawberry and something just so Chanyeol that was too hard to simply put into words.

"Shall we dig in then?" He questioned after pulling back, the dimple on his cheek standing out in an adorable way.

Seoyun nodded her head animatedly in agreement, eliciting a giddy laugh from Chanyeol as he reached over and pulled the plate towards the both of them. watered at the sight of what seemed to be all her favorite foods, paired with some traditional ones too that Chanyeol liked. 

There was a stack of waffles, since she didn't really like pancakes, sausage patties, fried eggs, hash browns, and then rice and steamed fish alongside some delicious broth that she knew he must of called his mom to get the recipe for.

She reached for a sausage patty before plopping it into , the savory taste almost making her moan in appreciation. Chanyeol had always been the chef in the house.

"When did you have time to make all of this, it must have taken a few hours, right?" She asked in slight amazement, her fingers grabbing for a slice of apple next.

Chanyeol reached over and tucked a stray piece of hair that was threatening to dip into the syrup of her waffles away behind her ear. He began to cut the steamed fish as he sent her a light shrug. "It didn't take me that long. Although, I was reluctant to leave the bed. You were all cuddled up against me and drooling on our pillow. I should have taken a photo."

Seoyun stopped her chewing, reaching up quickly to wipe away imaginary slobber from her cheek. "I did not!" She protested. "Right?" Her eyes were wide in embarrassment.

Chanyeol let a booming laugh out, slapping the side of the bed in high amusement from her reaction that sent all of the plates jingling together. "You should see your face!" She grumbled in response before looking away with a half-mustered pout.

He reached over and landed another kiss on the corner of making her turn towards him with a forgiving sigh. Chanyeol guided a fork-full of fish to once he finished cutting it and checking for any small bones. "Here baby," he offered, brushing open her lips with the pad of his thumb before spoon